PERKINSTON – It was a good opening week for the Northwest Mississippi Community College men's and women's tennis teams with multiple individuals making deep runs in their open draws, including one champion and several individual semifinalist in the consolation brackets at the ITA JUCO Men's and Women's Southern Regional Championships from September 24th through the 27th, hosted by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
"It's so important to get wins in the ITA for confidence," Head Tennis Coach Ryan Mounce said. "I'm not a big rankings guy or a big numbers guy, but it doesn't hurt for the kids to see that and it's good for the program for recruiting and for the kids for their confidence. I think moving forward these wins are going to play a vital role for the kids in the spring."
The story of the week for the Rangers came from the women's B draw where Meg Daves took home the title. Her run began with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Elizabeth Shirley of Meridian Community College in the round of 16 and she kept it up with a 6-4, 6-3 win to take out Ady Locke of Copiah-Lincoln Community College in the quarterfinals.
Friday's semifinal was a major test for the sophomore, winning the first set 6-2 over Macie Curtis of Hinds Community College before falling 6-3 in the second to force a tiebreaker. Daves outlasted Curtis in a back-and-forth affair to advance to the finals with a 11-9 victory.
In the finals, Daves went the distance in the best of three, winning the first and last sets 6-3 while dropping the middle set 7-6 (7-1) to Katlin Porcello of Jones College. It was the first time a Ranger has won the main draw since the program was re-instated in 2022.
"Meg does everything the right way," Mounce said. "She leads by example and wants the team to succeed. I think her work ethic and the way she carries herself played a direct role in her being a champion. You have to have a champion mindset and that's going to take her far in tennis and life.
Carlos Sanchez was another warrior for Northwest, battling through a tiebreaker in the round of 32 with Nick Dulaney of Mississippi Gulf Coast to earn a win 4-6, 6-2, (10-8). He again found himself in a second tiebreaker in the round of 16 against Jaume Socias Capella of Hinds, winning the opening set 7-5 before dropping the second 6-1 and rallying in the tiebreaker to win 10-5.
Another tie breaker awaited Sanchez in the quarterfinals against Andrea Cattaneo of Itawamba Community College, falling in the opening set 6-4 before taking the second 6-4 and edging out the tiebreaker with a 13-11 victory in extra sets. His tournament would end in the semifinals in a tough 6-1, 6-0 loss to Pablo de Haro Esteban of Hinds. Esteban would go on to win the championship of the A draw.
"I think Carlos had a good week," Mounce said. "He had a tough first round and didn't feel like he played his best but I challenged him and he challenged himself and he ended up with two more really big wins to get into the semifinal, and he just ran into the guy who won it and that guy was really good. I think there's a lot to take from that that we can use going forward."
Two other Rangers were in the A draw but fell in their opening rounds, dropping to the consolation. Miguel Lazaga Robayna fell to Nikoloz Gurgenidze of Copiah-Lincoln 6-1, 6-0 and Luca Morris dropped his match with Ryland Buford of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College 6-2, 6-4.
In the consolation, Robayna fell to Jan Bako of Gulf Coast 8-2 in the first round and Morris received byes to the quarterfinals, falling to Ned Simpson of Meridian Community College in an 8-6 thriller.
In the B draw, Northwest saw Holden Cooke breeze through his round of 16 match against Seth Gipson of East Central Community College with a pair of 6-0 set wins and again sweeping his way to the semis over Connor Hartfield of Gulf Coast with 6-3 wins in both sets. Cooke saw his tournament run end in the semis against Gulf Coast's Taylor Cook, falling 6-2, 6-4.
Jordan Mitchell opened his B draw with a win over Meridian's Jackson Grady, taking straight sets 6-3, 6-0 but fell in the round of 16 to Cook 6-3, 6-4.
Brady Holliman also saw his main draw run end in the round of 16 when Ryan Roth of Jones College picked up the 6-1, 7-5 win. He had a huge bounce back in the consolation bracket with an 8-0 win over Thomas Sumrall of East Central and continued his success with an 8-0 win over Gavin Robles of Meridian. In a tighter affair, Holliman edged out Lane Breland of Copiah-Lincoln 9-7, but his success ended in the consolation final, falling 8-2 to Warren Hudson of Gulf Coast.
Gregory Nelson had the same fate with a 6-4, 6-0 pair of losses to James Rooks of Copiah-Lincoln, falling to the consolation bracket as well. Nelson won his first round there with an 8-6 victory over Cory Smith of East Central before dropping his quarterfinal match with Breland 8-6.
In the C draw, Layne Wolfe fell in his opening match 6-2, 6-3 to Hayden Williams of Meridian but bounced back in the consolation with an 8-5 win over Christopher Randle of East Central. His run ended in the semifinals to Levi Elkins of Hinds in an 8-4 decision.
On the women's singles side in the A draw, Laura Camara Blanco took a win in her opening match against Meridian's Daisi Kukuljan 6-2, 7-6 but fell to Daniela Lopez 6-3, 6-0 in the round of 16.
Claudia Lopez Chaparro received a bye in her opening round before falling to Hiedi Clayton of Jones in the round of 16. Chaparro took down Kukuljan in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket in a tight 9-8 win, taking the tiebreaker 7-1. Chaparro fell in the semifinal 8-6 to Isabella Estrada Avila of East Central.
Angela Ortiz Sanchez also received a bye in the opening round before dropping her round of 16 match to Isona Arnaus 6-1, 6-1. Sanchez dropped her quarterfinal match 8-5 to Estrada Avila.
Lucy Oliver dropped her opening match in the round of 16 in the B draw, dropping the match to Copiah-Lincoln's Ella Claire Thompson 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to fall to the consolation bracket. Oliver fell in the consolation quarterfinals to Aleah McMullan of Meridian after an 8-1 decision.
Ava McCain also fell in her round of 16 match 6-3, 6-2 to Addison Joshlin of Itawamba.
Brooke Kicker played in the round of 32 and after narrowly dropping her first set 7-5 and fell 6-1 in the second set to Breanne Sparks of Itawamba, falling to the consolation where she faced off against McCain in a battle of the Rangers, with McCain taking the win 8-2 to move on to the semi's.
McCain's run continued with an 8-2 win over McMullan before being just edged out by Katelyn Walker of Gulf Coast in a 9-8 (7-5) thriller on Saturday afternoon in the consolation championship.
Ryleigh Parker Weatherly won her opening match in the C draw after taking the opening set 6-2 before Meredith Matthews withdrew from the match tied at 2-all in the second set. Weatherly fell in her second match to Anna Polk of Southwest Mississippi Community College, dropping the first set 6-1 and winning the second set by the same score. The tiebreaker was a tense affair with Polk just taking the edge 12-10.
Skylar Ferrell dropped her opening match against Allie Neal of Copiah-Lincoln 6-4, 6-0 before falling in the consolation quarterfinals 8-1.
In the A draw for men's doubles, the team of Morris and Sanchez won their opening round over Hinds 6-2, 7-6 (13-11) but dropped their quarterfinal match to Jones 6-2, 6-3.
Cooke and Mitchell cruised through their opening match against Southwest 6-0, 6-2 but also saw their tournament end in the quarterfinals to the team from Gulf Coast 6-3, 6-4.
Holliman and Robayna won their opening match in the B draw 6-3, 6-0 but also fell in the quarterfinals to Jones 6-2, 6-1.
A nail biter went the wrong way for Wolf and Nelson, who dropped their opening match 3-6, 6-3, (13-11) to the team from East Central, falling to the consolation bracket where they took down Meridian 8-6 in the quarterfinals, falling in the semifinals 8-1 to Southwest's duo.
In the A draw for women's doubles, Sanchez and Chaparro dropped their opening match 6-1, 6-1 to East Central and the team of Blanco and Daves also dropped their first match 6-2, 6-2. The two teams faced each other in the semifinals of the consolation bracket with Daves and Blanco earning the 8-5 win, but they dropped their consolation championship 8-4 to the team from Itawamba.
The team of McCain and Kicker got off to a great start in the B draw, winning their quarterfinal match against Copiah-Lincoln 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) but fell to Jones 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Weatherly and Oliver fell in their opening match to Copiah-Lincoln 6-1, 6-0 but nearly rallied in the semifinals of the consolation, just falling to an Itawamba duo 9-8 (7-3).
The Rangers have two more dates with matches this fall in preparation for the spring season, traveling to Jasper, Alabama for matches with Wallace State-Hanceville and Bevill State on October 3rd and closing out the fall with matchups against Rust and Delta State on October 17th.
More information on the full schedule for the Northwest tennis team can be found at nwccrangers.com and you can keep up with Ranger tennis and other athletic events by following NWCC social media accounts.
